Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Oklahoma Needs A Crown
Posted by: John Flick
Deja vu for Oklahoma and a dream come true for Lauren Nelson. The 20-year old from Lawton was crowned Miss America Monday night. Her predecessor is Jennifer Berry from Tulsa. The last time a state had back-to-back winners was nearly 50 years ago.
Oklahoma has cornered the market on pageants.
We also rise to the top in a number of less flattering categories: obesity, heart disease, uninsured, etc.
Our colleges turn out some of the best and brightest in the country. Unfortunately, most of the graduates don't stick around. Even Lauren will soon fly the Sooner coup. In a pageant interview she extolled the virtues of Oklahoma saying how pretty it is. She's grounded by family, faith and prayer and when she graduates, well... she's off to New York City to make it on Broadway.
An OU Marketing class is coming up with ways to keep young, bright minds here and so is the Chamber of Commerce. Our state has so much to offer but seems mired by outsiders perception. I was on a plane recently and told a woman I'm from Oklahoma. After frowning and making an "ewww" sound she said, "I'll bet it's dusty there."
We have great things to offer... Lauren and Jennifer are proof of that.
But, it seems we have work to do. More Miss America crowns certainly can't hurt.
posted by John Flick at 8:13 AM
4 Comments:
Amen to that! I am not originally from Oklahoma; I came here in 2002 to go to OU. I have recently graduated with a degree in Elementary Education and am now student teaching in Purcell. I came to Oklahoma with the intent of moving back to Kansas City asap, and now, nearly five years later, that will not be the case. There is so much spirit and state pride here that I have not found anywhere else, and I am happy to stay.
Personally, I think the weather is reason enough to stay. Keeps us on our toes...and well!
Back about 1991, I was helping to relocate some employees from the New York/New Jersey area to OKC. One of them actually thought that Oklahoma was still "Cowboys and Indians" on horseback, the whole nine yards!
Oklahoma City is a strange animal. While there seems to be a sense of pride in being an Oklahoman, there's no tangible sense of it in Oklahoma City. It's a sprawling mess of chain restaurants, big-box stores, and abandoned strip malls. The downtown is dead, there are very few distinctive neighborhoods, and the few city parks there are consist of a patch of grass with little else.
OKC needs to invest in neighborhood cores anchored by coffee shops, sidewalks, street lighting, green spaces, and TREES!! I know they grow here.
One-stop shopping doesn't refer to the mega mall or Walmart Supercenter anymore. For young people, it means a neighborhood where your home is in walking distance of a community gathering place that includes markets, delis, shops, and music venues. Oklahomans are outgoing and vibrant people; it's time for a civic makeover of OKC to match their personalities.
What is shameful is that Oklahomans consider themselves to be family and community oriented. However, more times than not families are unable to enjoy their community together because we are lacking in a trail and park system that encourages group activities and(God help us)regular exercise.
Although Jennifer's accomplishment is something to be applauded, do we want the only positive to be that we are the state that produces an occasional pretty woman? Speaking in terms that many of us understand---let's not focus so much on the icing that we forget the cake. The underlying health,social,and economic issues that plague Oklahoma are what give us the ranking of 44th unhealthiest state in the U.S.
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